Before he left for Jackson Monday night, my adorable husband left me a lovely bouquet of flowers, some fabulous chocolates, and delicious oranges, which are making these long, cold, can't-get-out-of-the-driveway days more delicious. However, he did not leave behind what I need the most right now: himself.
I went out this morning to fill the wood-burner (because my son managed to get to town and stay with friends last night so he can get to work and he won't be home until the ice allows). My husband left plenty of logs in just the right size for me to pick up, which are about half the size of the ones he generally tosses in the wood-burner because, as I keep reminding him, I'm not Paul Bunyan--or his blue ox either. So I found plenty of wood, but thanks to the ice storm, they were all frozen solid in a big forbidding lump. Where's Paul Bunyan when I really need him?
Some elbow grease was required to dislodge the logs but I didn't expect the bird-feeders to provide a similar challenge. Ha! It's hard to get a good grip on an ice-covered bird-feeder, and it's even harder to unscrew a lid that's encased in ice. I filled the feeders finally but gave up on opening the suet feeder. I left a chunk of suet out on a post where the birds can get to it and called it a day.
And what a day! I can't Zoom from home so I've posted online activities for all my students. I really need to get to campus tomorrow, but lacking a working vehicle and a passable driveway, I don't see how that's going to happen. The roads are not bad but I couldn't even ask a cab to drive up my driveway, so it's possible I may have to walk out to the end of my road and arrange to get picked up there and then find a place to stay in town overnight so I can teach my Friday classes. But that only works if we don't get more snow, freezing rain, and ice, which are all in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow.
Yesterday I took a walk around the lower meadow, lifting my legs high to crunch through the ice-covered snow, and I saw lots of small limbs down and some larger ones hanging low because of the burden of all that ice. More ice could bring down limbs and cause power outages like those that have happened elsewhere in the area, but maybe today's sunshine will thaw things out a bit. One can only hope. Because seriously, what are the other options?
Right now the sun is making the snow and ice sparkle like crystals. I can sit in my warm house watching my birds and eating my chocolates and grading my students' work and try not to think about how I'll ever get out of here again.
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